Daily Devotion – November 4, 2020 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Wisdom of Solomon 6:17-20
6:17 The beginning of wisdom is the most sincere desire for instruction, and concern for instruction is love of her,
6:18 and love of her is the keeping of her laws, and giving heed to her laws is assurance of immortality,
6:19 and immortality brings one near to God;
6:20 so the desire for wisdom leads to a kingdom.
Here is an interesting sequence:
1. desire to learn, which leads to
2. love of wisdom, which leads to
3. keeping wisdom’s laws, which leads to
4. certain immortality, which leads to
5. nearness to God
And finally, the writer says: in short, desire to learn leads to a kingdom.
A kingdom? Some translations read “a kingly stature”- so let’s go with that. A stature is something that comes from other people’s vision of you. What will make you kingly in the eyes of others? This sequence of 5 steps.
Do we believe it? I don’t know what all of you think. But I believe that anyone who desires to learn is head and shoulders above people who just don’t want to learn. We all know some of each type, don’t we? We can all point to people who are curious about the world and about others around them, who take in new information and use it thoughtfully to make wise decisions. People may even come to them to ask advice, so in a way, they achieve “kingly stature.” They are often not “book-learning” folks. They simply pay attention to the way things actually work, even changing themselves when they learn.
We also know people who don’t want to learn, who prefer to use whatever ideas come to their own mind and follow those ideas no matter the consequences, which, since we live in community, may cause them to live outside the law, which, one might speculate, could bring their life or at least their life in society to a premature end. No kingly stature for them. They don’t care about opening themselves up to new ideas from books or nature or people. They believe they are already smart and, because of their smartness, better than others. As they age, in truth they get smaller and smaller.
In an era when we have had to learn a lot of new things, be happy when you have become wiser. You have been smiled upon, and wisdom has made her home with you. IT is a good argument for keeping open to the new, no matter what, isn’t it?
Gracious God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for sending us wisdom. Keep us open and willing to learn through the coming difficult days, as that is the most useful path toward nearness to you.
Amen.
